Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

highplainsdem

(49,050 posts)
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 12:51 PM Jul 2012

Sununu Unleashed: Obama Needs To ‘Learn How To Be An American’

Source: TPM

A top Mitt Romney supporter went on a rampage against President Obama Tuesday morning, bringing up his teenage drug use and urging him to “learn how to be an American.”

John Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire and a leading Romney surrogate, told reporters that Obama’s recent defense of public infrastructure shows he “doesn’t understand how America works.”

“I wish this president would learn how to be an American,” Sununu said later.

Sununu tamped that suggestion down later in the call, without taking back his previous line, clarifying that his broader point was that “the president has to learn what the American formula for creating business and jobs in America is.”

-snip-

Read more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/sununu-unleashed-obama-needs-to-learn-how-to-be-an-american.php



And the Obama campaign's response, from spokeswoman Lis Smith:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/obama-spokeswoman-romney-campaign-off-deep-end

12:29 PM EDT, Tuesday July 17, 2012
Obama Spokeswoman: Romney Campaign ‘Off The Deep End’

-snip-

“The Romney campaign has officially gone off the deep end,” Smith said in a statement. “The question is what else they’ll pull to avoid answering serious questions about Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and investments in foreign tax havens and offshore accounts. This meltdown and over-the-top rhetoric won’t make things better- it only calls attention to how desperate they are to change the conversation.”

37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Sununu Unleashed: Obama Needs To ‘Learn How To Be An American’ (Original Post) highplainsdem Jul 2012 OP
Right after Sununu learns how to be a human Demeter Jul 2012 #1
+1 freshwest Jul 2012 #2
American is an oxymoron coldbeer Jul 2012 #21
Obama is American enough to replease his tax returns Kelvin Mace Jul 2012 #3
"Sununu" doesn't sound like a 'Murkican name. Odin2005 Jul 2012 #4
There isn't enough money to make everybody a sununu american. The_Casual_Observer Jul 2012 #5
Isn't This The Same Guy DallasNE Jul 2012 #6
He used a government car and driver to attend a stamp show in New York Art_from_Ark Jul 2012 #37
i would say that sununu is describing iemitsu Jul 2012 #7
Yes, it is. Downtown Hound Jul 2012 #16
Sununu is channelling Rush Limbaugh Jessy169 Jul 2012 #8
I think you've got it, Jessy, have thought so for years, elleng Jul 2012 #19
blowing a perfect oportunity Egnever Jul 2012 #9
Unleashed? Unhinged is more like it. n/t beac Jul 2012 #10
He always struck me as TheCowsCameHome Jul 2012 #11
You are absolutely right. thucythucy Jul 2012 #20
Ignoring the (truly vile) personal attack for a minute ... surrealAmerican Jul 2012 #12
Sununu needs to learn to get his nose outta the GOP backhole! benld74 Jul 2012 #13
on the topic of public infrastructure, Mr. Sununu, magical thyme Jul 2012 #14
And after he said this, he got on a taxpayer funded plane and flew across the country to get a Downtown Hound Jul 2012 #15
When I was growing up VWolf Jul 2012 #17
romney must be panicking badly and this is hardly a way to elevate the dialogue samsingh Jul 2012 #18
he is a POS and maddezmom Jul 2012 #22
Change the Subject tactic Thrill Jul 2012 #23
Sununu is a toddler spinning on his back screaming on aisle 4 at Walmart. JoePhilly Jul 2012 #24
that`s one of thee best descriptions of a republican i have ever read madrchsod Jul 2012 #25
To be fair, I stole it from the Stepanie Miller show ... they use it anytime JoePhilly Jul 2012 #29
i must have missed that bit on her show. madrchsod Jul 2012 #30
LOL!! JoePhilly Jul 2012 #32
Amazing how someone "un-American" get can elected President of the United States treestar Jul 2012 #26
"the American formula" another threat? or desparation of someone who knows THE High-up Sugar-Tit is patrice Jul 2012 #27
This Just Proves titanicdave Jul 2012 #28
Jesus! Where in the hell do they get these attack topics from? lunatica Jul 2012 #31
Can you imagine if any Democrat said this about a sitting Republican President? indie_voter Jul 2012 #33
Hey Sununu! Allen Raymond went to JAIL because of phone jamming in YOUR race in 2002 underpants Jul 2012 #34
Sununu Third Doctor Jul 2012 #35
Sununu is on CNN right now blaming people who defaulted on mortgage loans davidpdx Jul 2012 #36
 

Kelvin Mace

(17,469 posts)
3. Obama is American enough to replease his tax returns
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:00 PM
Jul 2012

and show us how he made his money.

Mitt Romney has only demonstrated he knows how to create A job for himself, and make money off the misery of other people.

The louder blowhards like Sununu scream, the more they try to change the subject, the more obvious it is that the tax returns are hiding dire secrets about Romney and his "character".

DallasNE

(7,404 posts)
6. Isn't This The Same Guy
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:09 PM
Jul 2012

That as Bush 41's Chief of Staff used a government plane to fly to New York City every week to get a haircut? Is this the model Sununu uses for "the American formula for creating business and jobs in America”. Or is this skill reserved only for white people in Sununu's mind. It is hard to understand what point Sununu is attempting to make because there is no context provided.

iemitsu

(3,888 posts)
7. i would say that sununu is describing
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:10 PM
Jul 2012

one type of attitude when he says that obama " “ has to learn what the American formula for creating business and jobs in America is.” but he does not describe how good americans view their civic responsibilities.
just because the rich want to privatize all public investments does not make it the model for the american way of doing things.

Downtown Hound

(12,618 posts)
16. Yes, it is.
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:41 PM
Jul 2012

On edit, this was supposed to be a reply to post 6. John Sununu was nailed for using taxpayer funds to fly his ass all over the place, including to get a haricut.

Jessy169

(602 posts)
8. Sununu is channelling Rush Limbaugh
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:13 PM
Jul 2012

If anyone read the transcript of Rush Limbaugh's rant yesterday, he was jumping up and down and flailing his arms to make the same lame point -- that Obama is "un-American". I can only guess why this theme resonates so well with the Republican herd. My guess is that the theme reaches deep in the human primordial psyche and plucks one of the major emotions that humans developed -- the US versus THEM emotion, the "our survival depends on destroying THEM" emotion. That's the sort of emotion that Republicans want to hammer on, not because they are looking to attract independent voters to their cause, but because they calculate that all they need to win is their current herd of Republican-bots animated to the maximum possible capacity of hatred and anger. That, and a few voting machines that somehow didn't get "calibrated" correctly.

elleng

(131,227 posts)
19. I think you've got it, Jessy, have thought so for years,
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:56 PM
Jul 2012

'Us vs Them,' and they just can't get beyond it.

Welcome.

 

Egnever

(21,506 posts)
9. blowing a perfect oportunity
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:20 PM
Jul 2012

To explain how unamerican the republican congress is in blocking all the job creation bills the president has tried to put forward instead focusing on repealing health care.

I get that the bain thing is hurting romney but we need to change congress as well if anything is going to get done besides re electing Obama.

thucythucy

(8,101 posts)
20. You are absolutely right.
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 03:03 PM
Jul 2012

At the White House Sununu had a reputation for kissing up and pissing down. He was hell on his staff, prone to verbal abuse.

There's a famous story (famous in the disability rights movement, anyway) about Sununu meeting with Congressional sponsors of the ADA--among them Senator Kennedy, and Congressional staff. This was a meeting at the White House to discuss the final details of the bill. Sununu kept raising these bullshit objections that had been hashed out long before -- like, the ADA will force every ski lift in New Hampshire to become wheelchair accessible, and crap like that. One of Kennedy's staffers, Bobby Silverstein (great unsung American hero, by the way) kept knocking down Sununu's pathetic arguments, until Sununu erupted and began screaming abuse at Silverstein. At which point Kennedy stood up, slammed his hand on the table in front of Sununu, got face to face with him about two inches apart, and said, "You don't yell at my staff! You want to yell at someone, yell at me!" People in the room actually thought the two were going to get physical, there in the White House conference room. Instead, Sununu backed down, and didn't say another word for the rest of the meeting.

Probably, he went back to his office to yell at people who couldn't answer back, or maybe kick his dog or something.

People in DC during Bush I actually made a verb out of his name. To go on a rant against a staffer or someone lower in the political pecking order than you were was to "Sununu them." As in, "I just met with the Congressman and got royally Sununu'ed.'

Wonderful man, and a great Republican too.

surrealAmerican

(11,365 posts)
12. Ignoring the (truly vile) personal attack for a minute ...
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 01:48 PM
Jul 2012

... he actually thinks having public infrastructure is somehow "un-american" and bad for business? That's insane!

 

magical thyme

(14,881 posts)
14. on the topic of public infrastructure, Mr. Sununu,
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:13 PM
Jul 2012

would you care to detail how many public dollars went to beefing up Salt Lake City's and Utah's infrastructures when Mittens single-handedly "saved" the SLC Olympics?

You remember....back when he was on leave of absence from/ retroactively retired/part-time employed/sole shareholder/Chairman of Board/CEO/President/not involved with/earning $100K+/leading several companies of Bain?

In order to avoid conflict of interest with Olympics while maintaining Mass residency for gov run and continuing to rake in maximum dough before establishing no ties with Bain before filing to run for President?

Please. Inquiring minds want to know...

Downtown Hound

(12,618 posts)
15. And after he said this, he got on a taxpayer funded plane and flew across the country to get a
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:40 PM
Jul 2012

Subway sandwich. And then he flew back across it to get a haircut. And then he flew to Europe to get a cup of coffee. And then he flew to Canada to do some grocery shopping, before finally flying home for the evening, after a brief detour to Mexico for a bottled water.

VWolf

(3,944 posts)
17. When I was growing up
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:47 PM
Jul 2012

smoking pot as a teenager WAS part of being american.

Sununu can go Cheney himself

samsingh

(17,602 posts)
18. romney must be panicking badly and this is hardly a way to elevate the dialogue
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 02:54 PM
Jul 2012

however its very repug in its essence. they can say whatever they want, and they cry when we fight back.

JoePhilly

(27,787 posts)
29. To be fair, I stole it from the Stepanie Miller show ... they use it anytime
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:46 PM
Jul 2012

a Republican flips out and starts screaming like a frustrated toddler, which does happen very often.

madrchsod

(58,162 posts)
30. i must have missed that bit on her show.
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:50 PM
Jul 2012

the last time i was in a walmart a 10yr old was riding a display bike around the store...

treestar

(82,383 posts)
26. Amazing how someone "un-American" get can elected President of the United States
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:38 PM
Jul 2012

That takes some talent!

patrice

(47,992 posts)
27. "the American formula" another threat? or desparation of someone who knows THE High-up Sugar-Tit is
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:40 PM
Jul 2012

drying up?

titanicdave

(429 posts)
28. This Just Proves
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:46 PM
Jul 2012

that Sununu is the ultra right wing nut job we knew he was for the past several years......I wonder what this idiot charges to haunt a house..

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
31. Jesus! Where in the hell do they get these attack topics from?
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 05:55 PM
Jul 2012

Wanting to fix the infrastructure is un-American? What is this guy hopped up on?!

indie_voter

(1,999 posts)
33. Can you imagine if any Democrat said this about a sitting Republican President?
Tue Jul 17, 2012, 06:05 PM
Jul 2012

The right wing noise machine would be screaming treason.

This is disgusting. The attacks on this President on this level has been unprecedented at least in my memory and I'm 48 years old. I don't remember anybody implying the President of the United States wasn't American enough.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Sununu Unleashed: Obama N...